10 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving
6. Turkey: the official US bird?
Benjamin Franklin proposed turkey as the national bird as he thought that the bald eagle signified bad moral character and turkey was better than it.
7. The great Thanksgiving controversy
Franklin Roosevelt never had imagined the controversy he would create when he brought forward Thanksgiving a week earlier in 1939 to lengthen the Christmas shopping season. Finally he did have to give in and Thanksgiving was finally declared to be held on the fourth Thursday every year in 1941.
8. The space turkey
Even astronauts are not left out from the turkey mania. Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong are supposed to have gorged on roasted turkey on their moon mission. Even the crews of subsequent missions haven’t been left out and the ones in endeavor even had a Thanksgiving dinner on board.
9. The origin of turducken
Contrary to popular beliefs, John Madden just helped popularize turducken and had nothing to do with its creation. The origins of turducken lie in the Yorkshire Christmas pie but the one in its present form is thought to have been invented in Louisiana in the mid 80’s.
10. Football in Thanksgiving
There can be no Thanksgiving without a sumptuous meal of turkey and a match of football. The first Thanksgiving football match was played in 1934 between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears and it has been a regular Thanksgiving event since then barring few years of World War II.
